Wayne Bridge threatens to pull out of World Cup

25/02/2010

Manchester City left-back Wayne Bridge is apparently considering not going to the World Cup because he is so devastated by John Terry’s affair with his ex-girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel. According to The Guardian he now considers his former best friend Terry a ‘sworn enemy’ and is considering snubbing him during the team line-up between Chelsea and Manchester City this weekend.

This presents a potential problem for England manager Fabio Capello, who could be without first choice left-back Ashley Cole, who has fractured his ankle, for the World Cup this summer. England play Egypt in a friendly next Wednesday and Bridge is apparently weighing up whether he wants to join the national squad and face spending any time with his former Chelsea captain.

‘People have been trying to persuade him to shake Terry's hand, even if he doesn't want to, because the alternative is that he loses some of the moral high ground,’ said a source to the paper. ‘But the fact is he simply thinks he cannot go through with it or that he would be lying to himself if he pretended everything was OK.’

‘He doesn't want to give up the chance of going to a World Cup but the simple fact is that the last few weeks have torn him apart. He is genuinely devastated and he is in that bad a state of mind he doesn't know whether he wants to go, especially if Ashley Cole is fit again and it means he will spend four or five weeks not even getting into the team.’